Camillagate
As 'Camillagate' a scandal is referred to that damaged Prince Charles' reputation extensively in the early 90s.
At the beginning of 1993, the Australian women's weekly magazine New Idea first published a very sexual and intimate phone conversation between Prince Charles and his mistress Camilla Parker-Bowles, who was still married to one of Charles' closest friends at that time. Later, the transcripts where also published in the US Star magazine and in the German Bild Zeitung. It was also released in Dutch and Belgian newspapers. However, British newspapers first hesitated to publish the transcripts since media mogul Rupert Murdoch said that the release of the full transcript would be far to damaging for the monarchy (Marks 1). Later, when the transcripts where released in the British press, it turned out that Princess Diana supported the release actively (Holden 310)
Even though the public already expected that Charles and Princess Diana had problems in their marriage, the phone conversation between Charles and Camilla left no doubt that the royal marriage between Charles and Diana was over (ibid. 27).
The content of the conversation led to many radical reactions; for example, students of the William-and-Mary University initiated a costume party called “Camilla's and Charles' sleepover” for the 300-year-anniversary of the university. Other British women used the term “Charlie” for a tampax (ibid. 265).
Due to this humiliating scandal, Charles became very depressed and withdrew himself from public events, while his wife Diana experienced a lot of compassion from the British public (ibid. 325 ff.).
The royal establishment, however, was allegedly not that shocked about the affair itself. The true scandal was that Charles was caught cheating and that it could be proven without any doubt (ibid. 312).
For a transcript of the conversation please see http://www.textfiles.com/phreak/camilla.txt
Sources:
Holden, Anthony. Der wankende Thron. Hamburg: Hoffmann und Campe, 1994.
Marks, Kathy. “Global audience for Camillagate script.” The Independent. 27th April 2010 <http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/global-audience-for-camillagate-script-1478405.html>.